The Mighty Dragons Are Dead

Chapter 220: Chapter 220: The Enemy Army Has Surrendered (Third Update, Alliance Hierarch Additional Update 14/22)
Swann strolled through the streets of Fresh Flower Town, the snow had stopped last night.

The roads had been cleared of snow, revealing the gravel pathways beneath. Compared to the stone-paved roads she had seen in big cities, these gravel paths were rudimentary. Yet for a small town to have such a road was impressive. In most countries, the majority of small towns would have nothing but dirt roads.

The Patrol Team, with smiles on their faces, maintained order among the new serfs and began to distribute clothes.

The garments were thick cotton, not shoddily made.

Before long, various serfs from different households began to transport ready-made food to the residential area, providing it to the new serfs through a team organized by the town officials.

There were ample quantities of food, and although it was only beans and black bread, each person received a kind of shellfish.

She had asked around, and this was seafood, a delectable food given to Landlord Li Si Te by the sea. Last night, she had tasted the seafood; it was not bad, reportedly Fresh Flower Town relied on seafood to feed everyone abundantly. Seeing the healthy complexion on the commoners’ faces, she knew it was true.

Unlike the pallor often found on rural serfs, here, the serfs had rosy cheeks.

They all wore thick cotton clothes, smiled as they worked, and were even paid a copper coin or two in wages. Such a life was hard to believe in a rural town.

Soon, she arrived at Little Wheat Village.

The crowing of chickens was constant, and she could see serfs feeding the large and small chickens with leftover breadcrumbs and some wheat bran.

She also passed a pig farm, where there were more than a dozen fat pigs.

Everything indicated that this was a prosperous town—not just the castle and town were affluent, but the rural villages were as well.

“Such a tranquil countryside.”

She suddenly remembered her hometown, which was also in a small town, like Little Wheat Village, only more dilapidated. The local landlord levied excessive taxes, demanding so much that the serfs couldn’t eat their fill. Her own family was the same, not getting enough to eat, and her parents decided to marry her off to the village’s lame old man.

She was only fifteen at the time.

The lame old man was over fifty already, his wrinkles deep enough to trap flies, and he looked as if he could die at any moment.

After summoning her courage, she ran away from home the next morning. As she was about to leave the village, she happened to hear a serf who was going to the fields to work singing a local folk song.

“My old home is in this village, I am a native of this place, don’t look at the village being so small…”

At that moment, her tears flowed freely, yet she was resolutely without regrets.

In the blink of an eye, four years passed.

So much had changed, and so many were gone.

When she finally had the ability to rewrite her own future, she heard that the Steel Ridge Kingdom was about to go to war with the Eagle Kingdom, so she set out on the journey home to bring her family away.

However, upon returning to her hometown, she found it devastated.

Her hometown had not been destroyed in the war but was instead massacred by a group of mercenaries. Her parents’ corpses had been gnawed on by wild dogs. But she also received a clue that her little sister was still alive. Thus, she pursued her from the Eagle Kingdom to the Duchy of Sapphire.

In this remote island’s small town in the countryside, she finally found her sister.

“Good morning, Captain Swann.” Suddenly, a stammering greeting pulled Swann out of her memories. She turned to look and saw a young slave girl.

She kind of remembered that the little slave girl had fallen on the boat, and she had taken her to get a meal: “It’s you.”

The little slave girl had changed into cotton clothes, a bit large, but they looked very warm. Her face had also been washed, and although still pale, her vigor had returned.

After greeting in Serpent Script, she immediately switched to Wind Language, her tone becoming more lively, “Captain Swann, are you a noble of Fresh Flower Town?”

Swann then asked, “Do you like Fresh Flower Town?”

“Mhm, I like Fresh Flower Town, Mr. Brown and Mrs. Brown are good people, and I also met Oniya, she is just like me, a serf who came over from another continent by boat. She has already started training in Dou Qi with the knights. Do you know about Dou Qi? Ah, someone as important as you must have trained in Dou Qi.”

“Women slaves can also train in Dou Qi?”

“Yes, Oniya asked her instructor, Lord Rom, and all the girls can go to class. In a few days, I’ll be able to train in Dou Qi too. Mhm, I want to be as strong as Captain Swann.”

“Don’t you want to go home?”

“Home?” A trace of confusion crossed the young slave girl’s face as she lowered her head, seemingly recalling something, “But Leah doesn’t have a home anymore.”

But quickly, she raised her head again: “Mr. and Mrs. Brown said that Leah should consider Fresh Flower Town her home.”

Captain Swann paused, then smiled and said, “Then consider this place your home.”

…

While having breakfast.

Liszt habitually summoned the Smoke Mission.

He was supposed to restrain his reliance on the Smoke Missions, but they were truly useful, and he couldn’t help but think about them every day.

One must grab at the tail of fate with all their might when given the chance.

An opportunity not taken is simply wasted.

However, this time, the Smoke Mission underwent a long-absent change, forming misty Serpent Script that was no longer the usual familiar phrases, but one that had appeared only once before.

“The mission has changed.”

Following that, the new Smoke Mission was released.

“Mission: In Fresh Flower Town, covered in ice and snow, workers toil and sweat daily but cannot get enough hot water for bathing, making them susceptible to catching colds. The landlord should consider this, and please construct a bathhouse for both men and women. Reward: A new variety of Flame Mushroom.”

The monkeys had not yet been bought.

Clearly, the mission had not been accomplished, but now it was changing.

Liszt recalled the mission from ‘Philip, Descendant of the Sun’s Diary,’ where he hadn’t facilitated a contract of father and son between Fi’el and Jessie, not until now. But he had found Fi’el’s Tanners’ Shop and obtained the diary that was supposed to be a reward, and the mission then changed.

This time, it was likely the same reason that led to the mission’s alteration.

“The Smoke Mission’s prompt is that the mission has already changed, not that it has failed. Could it be that the thief it rewarded me with has already fulfilled her role?”

He contemplated a possibility, that Swann might already have given her loyalty.

Yet it felt too fast; regarding this female mercenary who knew Invisibility Technique, he had had his fair share of doubts. Her value was unquestionable—just the Invisibility Technique alone was worth recruiting her for. However, the potential threats were also real: killing nobles, unknown origins, all crossed his red lines.

Thus, he was prepared for a long battle, never expecting that she would surrender so quickly.

To the point where he exclaimed, “Ah, I thought it was a boss fight, but it turned out to just be a cutscene. Is it you, little Swann, getting antsy, or is my charm, old Liszt, just too great?” He picked up a mantou newly “invented” by Mrs. Abbie, spread it with beef sauce and mustard, and took a bite.

Quite dry, quite hard.

Not as fluffy and soft as a real mantou, it still needed improvement.

“Regardless of whether Swann has pledged her loyalty, the original plan will continue, the investigation into her background also needs to speed up… The construction of the two bathhouses needs to start immediately. I had just designed a bathtub hot spring when the Smoke Mission catches up with the times and prompts me to build a bathhouse.”

The bathhouse was definitely going to be built because the mission’s reward was a new variety of Flame Mushroom, and without thinking, it had to be an enhanced version of the Magic Flame Mushroom.

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